Rights defenders treat practice of torturing detainees in Kuban as systemic

The situation with torture of detainees in Kuban (the Krasnodar Territory is named in this way by the name of the main river) stands out among other Russian regions; this practice has become systemic there, human rights defenders have stated in their comments on the pre-mortal statement of Evgeny Ipatov, a Sochi resident, about his torture at a law enforcement structure.

On December 24, the "Novaya Gazeta" newspaper reported that Evgeny Ipatov had been detained in Sochi by law enforcers and then released, but a few days later he was found dead. In the video recorded before his death, Ipatov claimed that he had been tortured; they demanded from him to incriminate himself and confess to stealing money from pensioners. His relatives would not believe the police's version of his suicide.

Svetlana Gannushkina, the chair of the "Civic Assistance" Committee, has refrained from claiming that Ipatov's death had to do with the torture video. However, in the Krasnodar Territory and in Russia as a whole, torture has become a "commonplace phenomenon" among law enforcers, she has stated, treating Kuban as a "preserve of human rights violations."

Igor Kalyapin, the head of the "Committee against Torture" (CaT) also believes that in Russia torture has become "almost a norm" among law enforcers, although "in Northern Caucasus, everything is probably even worse."

The "Caucasian Knot" has repeatedly reported about complaints of Kuban residents about torture in power structures. Thus, in October 2021, the mother of Kavelidze, who died after being detained, claimed that her son had been tortured. Giorgi claimed that he had been beaten up to force him confess to committing a murder, the CaT has reported.